Apparatus for feeding granular materials



March 6, 1956 v. A. RAYBURN APPARATUS FOR FEEDING GRANULAR MATERIALS' Filed Dec.

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/Nl/E/vrm l/. A. RA YBURN Mmm/Ev United States Patent O APPARATUS FOR FEEDING GRANULAR MATERIALS Vincent A. Rayburn, Baltimore, Mtl., assignor to Western Electric Company, Incorporated, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application December 16, 1952, Serial No. 326,231

2 Claims. (Cl. 222-312) This invention relates to apparatus for feeding granular materials, and more particularly to apparatus for feeding granular materials from a hopper at a substantially uniform rate.

In the manufacture of certain types of copper plated, steel core wires, a number of Wires are advanced seriatim through a plurality of copper electroplating cells. The bottom of each of these cells is provided with a plate electrode, either soluble or insoluble, covered with a layer of granular copper anode material, such as copper shot, or the like. The layer of anode material lying on the plate electrode forms the anode for the respective cells. As the electroplating proceeds, the anode material is dissolved into the electrolyte and must be replenished periodically.

For the purpose of feeding and distributing the granular anode material to the individual cells, a manually operable hopper car may be utilized and positioned for movement on a pair of rails which extend along the entire long row of spaced cells on opposite sides thereof. A supply hopper would be provided on the hopper car for containing the granular anode material, which may be selectively discharged therefrom while the car is passing over a cell. Such a hopper car is described fully and claimed in my copending application Serial No. 326,232, filed December 16, 1952.

It has been found that in order to insure a stable rate of copper deposition, it is essential that the layer of anode material covering the copper electrode be substantially uniform in thickness. Hence, distributing means for effecting a substantially uniform discharge of the anode material from the supply hopper are required.

It is an object of this invention to provide newand mproved apparatus for feeding granular materials.

Another object of this invention is to provide new and improved apparatus for feeding granular materials from a hopper at a substantially uniform rate.

A material dispensing apparatus illustrating certain features of the invention may include a hopper for containing a supply of a granular material, which hopper is provided with an opening formed in the bottom thereof through which the granular material may issue. A powerdriven feed roll surfaced with a resilient material is positioned beneath the opening in the hopper and a plurality of spaced, yieldable fingers are mounted adjacent to the feed roll for cooperation therewith to regulate the flow of material advanced thereby.

A complete understanding of the invention may be had from the following detailed description of a specific embodiment thereof, when read in conjunction with the appended drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary side elevation, partly broken away, of a hopper car for distributing granular anode material to a series of electroplating cells;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of a portionof the hopper car,A partly broken away for the purpose of illustrating apparatus embodying certain features,ofthefinventionfor 2,737,319 Patented Mar. l6, 19u56 ice feeding the material from theV hopper car at a substantially uniform rate;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged, fragmentary, vertical section taken along line 3-3 of Fig. 2, and

Fig. 4 is an enlarged, fragmentary, vertical section taken along line 4 4 of Fig. 2.

Referring now to Fig. l, a hopper car 10 is shown in position over one of a series of aligned electroplating cells 11-11. The details of the hopper car 10, exclusive of certain features hereinafter to be described, are set forth in the aforementioned copending application. The hopper car 10 is provided with a supply hopper 12 for receiving a supply of copper shot 14, which is to be distributed uniformly over a copper electrode plate 15 positioned on the bottom of a cell 11 to form a uniform layer 16 of soluble anode material.

The supply hopper 12 has a vertical front wall 17, a sloping rear wall 18, and two vertical side walls, one of which designated 19, is shown in Fig. l. The slope of the rear wall 18 is preferably made somewhat greater than the angle of repose of the copper shot.l The lower edge of the rear wall 18 extends a short distance below the lower edge of the front wall 17 and is spaced therefrom to form a generally frontal opening, designated 20 (Fig. 2).

Positioned immediately below the opening 20 and extending transversely across its'entire length is a rotatable feed roll 22 (Figs; 2, 3 and 4), which is surfaced with a relatively thick, resilient layer 24 of a vulcanized compound of rubber, neoprene, or the like. The opposite ends of the feed roll 22 extend a short distance beyond the side walls 19-19 of the supply hopper 12 and are provided with turned down stub shaft portions, one of which designated 25 is shown in Fig. 4, rotatably mounted within bearings, one of which designated 26 is shown. The bearings are spacedly mounted on spacer studs 27-27 to the opposite sides of a discharge spout 28 which partially surrounds the feed roll. The discharge spout 28 is pendantly mounted between longitudinal frame members, one of which designated 29 is shown in Fig. 4, and is provided with suitable apertures through which the ends of the feed roll 22 pass to be received within the bearings.

The right-hand stud shaft portion 25, as viewed in Fig. 4, extends beyond the bearing 26 and. receives a fiat tail pulley 30which is keyed thereto. The tail pulley 30 is rotatably driven in a counterclockwise direction by a selectively operable distributor drive motor 31 (Fig. l) operatively connected thereto by means of a belt 32 and a grooved drive pulley 33. The llat tail pulley 30 permits slippage of the belt 32, if the feed roll 22 should become effectively jammed.

A plurality of bent grate bars 34-34 (Figs. 2 and 3) are xedly and spacedly positioned within the supply hopper 12 above the opening 2t). The grate bars 34-34 serve two purposes, one functional and the other structural. As illustrated in Fig. 3, the functional purpose of the bars is to break up arching before the copper shot has llowed and compacted intothe restricted throat of the supply hopper and to retard the down flow of the tightly packed mass of copper shot to effect a loose mass in the immediate region of the feed roll 22. The structural purpose of the grate-bars is to keep the front Wall 17 kand rear wall 18 from bulging and to maintain their lower T he comb 35 (Figs. 2'and 4) comprises a comb back '3`6fhavin'g/ arpluirality of closely spaced, laterally coplanar, comb teeth 37-37. The comb teeth 37-37 are preferably made of a highly resilient metal strip or wire, `such as #22 tempered spring Wire, or the like. Each ofthe comb teeth 37-37 has van end portion bent at right angles to a straight shaft portion thereof (Fig. 2), the bent end portion being considerably smaller than the straight shaft portion. The comb teeth 374-37 are held in the comb back 36, by the bent portions passing through spaced apertures 41-41 formed in the comb back, and the straight shaft portions of the teeth engaged jin grooves, one of which designated 42 is shown in Fig. 2, formed in the comb back.

The comb back 36 is rigidly secured to the hopper 12 near the lower edge of the front wall, with all of the comb teeth 37-37 held in assembled relation, by means of mounting screws 43-43 which pass through slotted holes 44-44 provided in the comb back. The

comb back 36 'urges and retains the comb teeth 37-37 rmly against the front wall 17, the lower extremities of the straight shaft portions thereof depending equidistantly below the lower edge of the front wall, and the tips thereof lying in a single plane spaced from the surface of the feed roll 22. The spacing between the tips of the depending comb teeth 37-37 and the outer resilient layer 24 on the feed roll 22 may be adjustably varied by loosening the screws 43-43 and repositioning the comb back 36 until the desired spacing is obtained.

The discharge spout 28 serves to direct the copper shot 14 as it spills from the surface of the feed roll vertically onto the bottom of the cell 11 and prevents random scattering lengthwise thereof. Threaded fasteners, one of which designated 47 is shown in Fig. 3, serve to fasten an upper rear flanged portion of the spout 28 to the sloping rear Wall 18. Positioned in the converging exit portion of the discharge spout 28 are a plurality of spaced deector rods, one of which designated 48 is shown in Fig. 2. Some of the copper shots falling through the discharge spout 28 strike these rods and are deflected transversely to either side thereof, whereby a more uniform distribution is obtained.

The hopper car 10 is provided with a reversible carriage motor 50 suitably mounted thereon. The carriage motor may be selectively controlled to operate the hopper car at predetermined uniform speeds in either direction along the rails, one of which 'designated 52 is shown in Fig. 1, over the series of electroplating cells 11-11.

Operation Assuming that the carriage motor 50 has been energized to drive the hopper car 10 to the left, as seen in Fig. l, at a predetermined uniform linear speed, copper shot 14 from the supply hopper 12 may be distributed over the bottoms of the cells 11-11 by selectively energizing the distributor drive motor 31. When the motor 31 is energized, it drives the feed roll 22 continuously in a counterclockwise direction, as viewed in Fig. 2, and at a constant rotational speed, by means of the belt 32 and the pulleys 30 and 33.

As the feed roll 22 is continuously rotated, individual particles of copper shot 14 immediately adjacent to the rotating feed roll are seized and carried upwardly therev.comb teeth 37-37 permit the copper shot particles Vto work down to the surface of the feed roll 22 whereupon 'they areseized and discharged. If two or more copper shot particles should wedge, the comb teeth 37-'37v may force one of them to become partly imbedded in the 'esilient layer '24 of the feed'roll, but once out of the region of the comb teeth, this particle will be caused to bound away from the feed roll due to the resiliency of the layer 24. For optimum results, it is important that the resilient layer 24 be of sufficient thickness and have sufficient resiliency to facilitate the heretofore described action. One feed roll which was found to be satisfactory had an outer diameter of 3" and was made of a 21/2 O. D. steel core covered with a 1A thick layer of a vulcanized compound of neoprene having a Shore hardness number of from 30 to 40.

The height of the comb teeth 37-37 and the speed of the feed roll 22 are mutually adjusted to discharge copper shot at a predetermined and substantially uniform rate over the width of the feed roll. It will be noted that the copper shot is graded before it is loaded into the supply hopper 12 and that it is not intended that the comb teeth 37-37 and the feed roll 22 cooperate to perform a sifting or sieving operation, or that the comb teeth should hold back any copper shot particles from discharge ultimately.

The discharge spout 28, as previously mentioned, directs the substantially uniform flow of copper shot, which spills from the feed roll 22 toward the bottom of the cell V11. Since the copper shot spills from the driven feed roll 22 at a substantially uniform rate, and the hopper car 10 moves longitudinally with respect to the bottom of the cell 11 at a constant linear speed,-the layer'16 formed on the cell bottom will be substantially uniform in depth.

An additional advantage obtained by the use of a feed roll covered with a layer of a vulcanized compound of rubber, neoprene, or the like, is the superior gripping power of the feed roll surface. This feature insures a substantially positive feed by reducing the occurrence of slippage between the feed roll surface and particles in contact therewith.

It is manifest that various modifications of this apparatus may be made within the spirit and scope of the invention, and that the apparatus may be designed and used to dispense granular materials other than copper shot.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for feeding shot-like materials at a substantially uniform rate, which comprises a hopper for containing a supply of the material, said hopper having a transversely extending opening formed in the bottom thereof through which the material may issue, a rotatable feed roll surfaced with a resilient, rubber-like material positioned transversely adjacent to the opening in the hopper, means for rotating the feed roll at a constant speed, and a plurality of closely spaced, depending, yieldable comb teeth mounted adjacent to the feed roll for cooperation therewith, the depending end portions of said teeth'extendingl partially across the opening in the hopper, the comb teeth and the feed roll being spaced from each other and arranged so that the material issuing from the opening is gripped and carried upwardly by the rotating roll and beneath the cooperating comb teeth and thence is carried over the crown of the roll whereupon it spills therefrom, said comb teeth vcooperatingrwith the resilient surface of the feed roll in the hopper, means for rotating the feed roll at a Uconstantj speed, 'a plurality of closely spaced, depending;yie1dab1econ'1b teeth mounted adjacent to thefeed roll for cooperation therewith, the depending end porthe feed roll from the opening in the hopper, and means tions of said teeth extending partially across the openfor adjusting the spacing between the comb teeth and ing in the hopper, the comb teeth and the feed roll the surface of the feed roll.

being spaced from each other and arranged so that the References Cited in the me of this patent material issuing from the opening is gripped and car- 5 ried upwardly by the rotating roll and beneath the UNITED STATES PATENTS cooperating comb teeth and thence is carried over the 1,457,490 Bai-well et al June 5, 1923 crown of the roll whereupon it spills therefrom, said 1,605,702 Brierley Nov. 2, 1926 comb teeth cooperating with the resilient surface of the 2,237,504 Roath Apr. 8, 1941 feed roll to regulate the llow of material advanced by l0 2,643,798 Nei June 30, 1953 

